Phins Lose Two For Sunday As Team Heads To New England
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins face their toughest opponent of the year when they walk onto the turf in Foxboro. The New England Patriots, who lead the division by 1.5 over the Jets and 2 over Miami are finally getting their pieces together. The Dolphins will have to stop the Patriots without two of their starters as they lost two for the weekend to injury.
Channing Crowder will miss his 2nd consecutive game after missing last weekends with a shoulder injury. Limited in practice once again, Crowder will sit this one out and give way to Reggie Torbor in his stead. While some will argue that the loss of Crowder is not monumental the loss of the second player is. Jason Ferguson.
Ferguson is listed as out with an elbow injury that kept him from practicing this week. He will turn over the NT duties to 3 year pro Paul Soliai who will today make his first NFL start. One of only 2 Cam Cameron draft picks left, Soliai looks like he has started turning the corner from back-up to contributor.
The Dolphins will also, for the second week in a row, pit two rookie CB’s against one of the most formidable of offensive WR’s as Vontae’ Davis and Sean Smith try and stop Randy Moss and Wes Welker. They will get help from another rookie, Chris Clemons, throughout the game at Safety.
The Dolphins defense and the play of Chad Henne will have more to do with the outcome of this game. A solid game from Henne that doesn’t involve turning the ball over, will help keep Tom Brady and company off the field. Defensively, the Dolphins can set the tempo of the game but they will have to improve in one area that this year has been the teams achilles heal. Defending the TE.
The Dolphins have given up more yards to TE’s than any other position this season or at least it seems. Today, they will try and hold down Benjamin Watson who could play a huge role in the Pat’s offense. The Dolphins will have to put pressure on Brady early and often while watching the running game which may be used to keep the Phins out of Brady’s face.
The game will go a long way in telling fans what kind of team the Dolphins have, and their hopes of defending the AFC East crown starts today.
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